Today 200 dollars were saved here in the garage. Of course, I pocketed none of that savings. I'm just reporting what went on during our car day. Originally, Wei and I had planned for a day of doing work on the 240sx. However, those plans got semi changed due to two other cars that needed work. Albert came over to change the oxygen sensor in his Lexus. And Deanna came over to get her car horn fixed. Her car had failed state inspection due to the horn being inoperable.

Though an oxygen sensor should take no more than 30 minutes, this job took a few hours. The OEM plug was different from the new plug, and therefore had to be snipped and re-soldered in order to fit correctly. Though there were EE's working on the soldering, it took an unusually long time for the solder to make its way onto the actual wires:) I heard that there were some problems with the soldering iron, and the lack of flux available. But I've used the same iron and so attribute the delays to user error:)

The horn was actually what took the longest. I actually really dislike diagnosing electrical issues, as one can tell from the latest power supply issue I've been having with my work computer. Working our way from the steering wheel switch, we were able to tell that it wasn't the switch, nor was it the fuse, nor was it the relay that powered the horn. Finally, we deduced it was the actual horn assembly. However, when Deanna came back from Pepboys with a new horn, we found out that the new horn was working just fine! Fortunately, the horn was only $14.99. Backtracking, we found out that a connector in the line was semi busted. So some safety wire and duct tape later, the horn was fixed and working. Deanna mentioned that a local shop had quoted her about $300 to fix the horn. So in her case, we saved $300.

Now, back to Albert's Lexus. After installing the oxygen sensor, he started the car and the "Check Engine" light went back on. We used the code reader and the same exact engine code came up. It turned out that he had replaced the wrong oxygen sensor. But since he had clipped the OEM plug, there was no going back to the old one. Therefore, he would have to buy another $100 oxygen sensor. That's 100 dollars down the drain.

So grand total, $200 saved by our car work. And we were able to get about an hour of work on the project car done. At this rate, I hope this project car is running by the time my future kids start learning to drive:)